Brunch for Mother's Day!

One of my favorite ways to celebrate 

Mother's Day is to have brunch 

with the family!

No cooking for this Momma!

This year, we ended up having two brunches . . . 

am I lucky or what!

Connor, moi and Maddie

Philip and his family couldn't make it to the first

one, so we went to brunch again the next

weekend to celebrate with them.

Mr. Tennis, aka The Rickster, Maddie, me and Connor -
doesn't my hair look good - even with that tree growing out of my head!

I know I'm not the best cook -- but really -- doesn't

brunch prepared by someone else always taste fabulous!

And don't even get me started on Mimosas!

Love, Love, Love!

Why yes, I do believe I had 3 Mimosas at Mother's Day Brunch.

One to celebrate each child, of course!

And later, another favorite way to celebrate

a visit to the zoo with Maddie and a wee little nap!

Could it be that the 3 Mimosas made me a little sleepy???

Philip, Jane, Harry, Walt, Catherine and Dorothy

It was a fabulous Mother's Day and

wonderful celebrations.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful

family!

Bye Bye Sophomore Year!

Soooo, sophomore year in high school is finito -- finished, all done, bye bye!

Her big smile says it all - doesn't it!

She's ready for summer!

And What a Year it's Been!

A few of the highlights . . . 

Cheering at all the Reserve and JV Games!

Doing tons and tons of homework.

Figuring out Quizlet and how to use it to help

prepare for tests!

Using the MathElf app!

Getting a driver's license!

Driving to School!

Celebrating at Scooters!

Sewing!

Easter at DisneyWorld!

Being my No. 1 Sweet Daughter!

Here she was in 2010 after finishing 2nd grade!

 

Sleepy mornings, summer schedules, pool time
here she comes!

Another Milestone - Driving!!

We hit another milestone recently!

Maddie got her driver's license and is driving back

and forth to school . . .

all by herself!!

Her first car - handed down from her brothers.

Oh my word - that first day she left home to 

drive to school, I wanted to jump in the car

and follow her to make sure she got there ok.

Actually, I wanted Mr. Tennis to drive in front of her 

and me behind her to provide a somewhat

protective bubble of safety!
Every day, I say a prayer to keep her safe as she drives away.

After school on that first day (well, every day to tell the truth),

I wait outside in front of the house to see her driving 

up our street. 

 The first day it seemed that her

drive home was taking longer than I thought it would.

I was checking my watch and iPhone for any messages and

then I saw the Big Red Jeep headed down our street.

She had stopped at Scooter's to buy a celebratory Frap!  :)

2015 Jeep Patriot

Yes, she is driving the Big Red Jeep (we love that car)

and I'm driving a new/used Jeep Patriot.

Love the Jeep brand.  I tried a few others,

but felt most comfortable in a jeep!

She's doing great!

Happy Driving!

Fun Fotos on a Friday!

Happy Friday!!

I'm interrupting my own series of posts about WDW to

post a couple of FUN FRIDAY FOTOS!

Yesterday when the weather was perfect, 

Maddie and I headed out to a fave foto location.

Sometimes we just like to take pictures!

So, I had her imitate Gaston 

(from Beauty and the Beast, you know)

so we could compare it with the one we took at WDW!

We got some funny looks when we took that one at WDW!

But, I guess it was a sort of a clever idea as other park visitors

immediately started imitating us and doing the exact same photo!

And a laughing photo  because . . . obviously, we crack ourselves up!  :)

Happy Mother's Day friends!

Where We Stayed at WDW and My Hair!

More on the spring break trip to Orlando!

Isn't it so pretty!

I know you've all been waiting on a report on how my hair fared 

in hot and usually humid Florida!

Guess what -- it wasn't too humid when we were there!

What a shocker!

Stay tuned for a photo at the end of this post!

We haven't stayed at this resort before - 

Port Orleans Riverside. 

 It's a BIG resort.  

My great planning (and pure luck)

resulted in our getting a room not too far from the main 

buildings and food court, close to a quiet pool AND

close to a bus stop (very, very important) for rides

to the park and back again.

Horse drawn carriage rides!

Of course, my worries about my hair were mostly unfounded!

My hair was not perfect, it never is -- but it was

way better than I ever imagined it would be for Florida!

And you know - I'm always thinking about and/or worried about my hair.

Yes, I did wear a Minnie Mouse headband

I am a goofball, after all! :)

Look at how perfect my hair looks!!!

Epcot Day 1

The Disney Adventures continue . . . 

On our first full day, Maddie and I had a fabulous

character breakfast at Epcot!

Maddie loves Mickey waffles!

The restaurant is called the Garden Grill and it 

is SO GOOD!!  Plus, it slowly rotates as you eat and that is fun too.

Luckily, it did not make me dizzy!

The characters there are so fun!

Yes, we still love seeing characters!

We could not miss seeing our favorite Mickey Mouse

in overalls!

Maddie mentioned that she saw a very old photo of 

me in similar overalls!

Yep -- I wore overalls sometimes in college! 

It was a super fun way to start the day and 

we made sure and eat enough to count for breakfast and lunch!

Catching Up ... A Little

Hello there -- Yay -- it's Wednesday -- my third favorite day of the work week,
just behind second place-Thursday and first place-Friday!
Oh my word, I've gotten way behind on blogging, haven't I.

I will be attempting to catch up a bit.

We had the Best. Time. Ever. on our spring break trip

to Walt Disney World!
The weather was perfect and so nice to 

have warm sunny skies while
winter continued into its 96th week in Nebraska!!

The only downer (do people still say "downer?") was that Mr. Tennis was unable to go with us.
He has not been feeling the best and that's putting it mildly.  OY!!
Truth be told - I was worried about leaving him at home!
Back in November, he was in the hospital for a Crohn's flareup and meds were changed,
which helped a teensy bit for a little while.
But, he was feeling quite poorly before a pre-surgery checkup, and it was discovered

he also has rheumatoid arthritis (another auto-immune disease)!

Right after we returned, he he had surgery and just starting some new meds to fight the
auto-immune issues.  He is doing better lately and we are so delighted
to see him feeling more like his usual self.
He's such a trooper and has been working at least half days or

more and finally able to get out and see his beloved horse -- not ride her -- 

but visit her and that has brightened his days!  Yay!

Love the castle!

But, let's put all that stress and worry behind us and
talk about Disney -- our favorite place!
The weather was absolutely heavenly!
Warm and sunny and not even humid!!
After such a long and dreadful winter - we were
definitely ready for sunshine and Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse!



Maddie and caught a flight to Orlando at 5:15 AM!
Oy!!  Why do I always think that the first flights are the best and we have
to be at the airport by 4 AM!!  Yikes!
But . . . the best thing about those early flights is an early arrival -- we were at our hotel
by 12:30 or 1 PM!
We visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom that day and planned our strategies for days to come.
Of course, we couldn't leave Magic Kingdom without a Mickey ice cream bar!
Stay tuned!